It was initially hard to find the coverage of the Catherine Greig plea in the local newspapers. That is why I ended up getting my information from the NY Post. On Thursday I figured the locals could not totally ignore it so I Googled her name looking for news.
The Globe’s Shelley Murphy, the one who wrote about Billy Bulger’s grand jury testimony wrongfully leaked to the Globe, reported on it. She noted that the federal prosecutor Mary B. “Murrane said Greig refused to answer questions about her whereabouts between 1995 and 2011 “and whether any third party provided assistance to her and Mr. Bulger.” The article went on to note: “Greig was initially found in civil contempt for refusing to testify and nine months were added to her sentence. Prosecutors last year sought her indictment on the criminal contempt charge.”
Laurel J. Sweet for the Herald noted: “Risking life imprisonment to stand by her man, the longtime girlfriend of mobster James “Whitey” Bulger pleaded guilty yesterday to defying a court order that she tell a grand jury who helped the couple live large on the lam for 16 years.” “Live large?” Is her prejudice showing? Sweet did note that: “Saylor asked Greig if she understood he could put her away for good, she responded, “I do.””
Denise Lavoie with AP whose article appeared in Patriot Ledger noted: “Greig did not flinch when Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV told her that because there is no maximum penalty for the contempt charge, he could sentence her to any term, including up to life in prison.”
The astonishing thing about all this is none of the reporters seem to flinch at the idea that a federal judge would put a women in prison for the rest of her life because she is a stand up gal. What a mockery she makes of all those so-called tough guys from Southie like Kevin Weeks and elsewhere who ran so fast to the federal prosecutors to sell out others that the hounds couldn’t catch them. Even Whitey did not stand tall. He had his lawyers dime out John Connolly. The only one associated with Whitey in any of his endeavors who stood up was a woman: Catherine Greig.
Her lawyer Kevin Reddington who is a good lawyer who has handled the toughest cases noted to Judge Saylor: “She doesn’t understand why they are hounding her like this. ” I’ll tell her – they cannot stand the idea that someone would dare stand up them. They are used to crushing people. They want people they have targeted to come crawling to them pleading for mercy. They want defense lawyers to bow and scrape to them if they want to get a deal for their clients. They never had a person with so much courage stand up to them. It was important to them that she be beaten down. When they couldn’t do it they are trying to lock her up forever.
And for what – this is what makes this into a great farce. This is a perversion of every concept of justice which no major news media seems concerned. It is not for her relationship with Whitey Bulger she is being punished. She has already received an extraordinary punishment for that – a punishment that exceeded any other ever given out in America to a person in a similar situation.
There is nothing important at issue here. If she willingly told of each and every person who helped her and Whitey while she was on their flight what would it amount to? Whoever did help cannot be charged with a crime. The statute of limitations is about to expire. What then is the information sought for? Or does this merely come down to satisfying the desires of sadistic prosecutors who seek to punish a woman who had the courage to stand up to them.
If they cannot charge those who helped her with a crime, why are they so adamant in pursuing this. The only reason I can think is so that they can harass or tear down the reputation of those who may have done it. But that isn’t supposed to be the job of a prosecutor. Or do the Boston federal prosecutors think it is? Have they ever done it to any other person?
Perhaps, if the federal prosecutors in Boston did not leak information to the media Catherine Greig may have cooperated. But they do. She may fear whatever she says, although it is supposed to be held in secret will be spread throughout the media. Perhaps, if the prosecutors had not already caused the draconian punishment she is now under to be put on her she may have cooperated. They’ve already taken a good part of her life away for her nonviolent actions. Having done their best to bury her she defiantly stands up to them. Perhaps from her desperate situation like the prince in the poem Opportunity she’ll prevail and be the ultimate winner.
I wrote before how Greig’s sentence exceeded that of Mafia leaders. Remember reputed New England Mafia Underboss the “Cheeseman.” Here’s a look at his criminal background. He was sentenced to six years. He’s getting out six months early. He even had a state judge revise his sentence down to let him out early. How about Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio a former Mafia boss with a long history including being indicted for murder. He got three years.
We stand on the threshold of witnessing one of the greatest injustices in American history. It is because of vindictive prosecutors. They are aided by willful judges afraid to put a stop to their activities. I have been asked what can be done about this. There is only one thing.
Justice Brandeis said the best way to stop injustice is to expose it to the sunlight. We must let Judge Saylor, who can explode easily, see here and here, know what we think. Tell him that we are watching him to see if he is going to partner with the prosecution in continuing this injustice. Write to him to express your opinion. Write to: Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV, John J. Moakley U.S. Courthouse, Courtroom 2, Third Floor, I Courthouse Way, Boston MA 02210.
We must bring it out into the light of day. The media won’t.
I will post my letter after I have written it. The sentencing hearing (and sentencing) will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 28, 2016 in courtroom 2 on the 3rd floor. If you intend to write, do so by April Fool’s Day.
Hey all you people who claimed that it wasn’t just John Connolly protecting Bulger, that the corruption went all through the FBI, the Fed’s just called your bluff.
If there was any truth to those claims, Grieg certainly would have known–and would have welcomed the opportunity to blow the whistle on the FBI.
The fact that she won’t testify indicates strongly that she has nothing on the FBI, or the Fed’s in general.
She might be protecting people who broke the law by helping her and Bulger. Or she may have other reasons not to let authorities know where she and Bulger where at various times. Or she may calculate that a lot of the people who are treating her as a martyr would turn on her if she told the truth.
At any rate, isn’t it a little silly to invoke Justice Brandeis’s quote about sunlight to argue on behalf of someone who might very well be guilty of hiding the crimes of powerful people?
In other news
High school students can learn more about FBI
February 7 2016
CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking applications from high school students, between the ages of 16 and 18, that have ever wondered if the TV shows featuring the FBI are realistic? Individuals that are curious about what it takes to be an FBI agent or member of the FBI’s professional staff? High school students that wonder what investigating a federal case is actually like?
If you are a high school student between 16 and 18 years of age, living in the area served by the FBI’s Cleveland field office, and these questions along with many more you would like answered, the Cleveland FBI office would like to hear from you.
+1
Cleveland FBI office coverage area
The 2016 Cleveland FBI Future Agents In Training (FAIT) will be held Tuesday, June 14 through Friday, June 17 at FBI Cleveland field office headquarters. Any high school student, 16 – 18 years of age attending a public, private, charter, or home school and currently residing within the Northern District of Ohio served by the FBI Cleveland field office may apply. Applicant qualifications are specified in the FAIT application.
Students selected for the FBI FAIT Academy spend four fun, interactive days at the FBI’s Cleveland field office headquarters and other locations participating in both classroom and hands-on activities. Classes offer insight into a number of topics and specialties including the importance of making good choices when using online communication platforms, what violations of federal law the FBI investigates, what is required of all FBI applicants, and the FBI’s domestic and international roles. Students will also enjoy numerous hands-on experiences involving specialized areas of the FBI, such as the Evidence Response Team and forensic photography. After completing the class, students are more aware of challenges their communities face, better understand how the FBI serves their region, and are prepared to mentor their peers.
Application packages are currently available at http://www.fbi.gov/cleveland/. Students interested should complete and submit all required application materials via U.S. mail to the Cleveland field office headquarters at Cleveland FBI, Attention: FAIT Academy, 1501 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, postmarked by March 31.
Based on my direct knowledge, the “rule of law” has been replaced with the “rule of like.” Consider my latest fact-based opinion column concerning the “shoot to kill” of LaVoy Vinicum and the deliberate frame up of Dr. Bharani:
BROOMSTICKS vs. BAZOOKA’S
by Douglas K. Kinan
If anyone is to believe senior FBI officials, consider the story about one of Richard Pryor’s ex-wives who walked in on him while he was in bed with another woman. At her outrage he asked, “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”
All of the world can see the video tape and its clarity of a retaliatory murder, under color of law. This retaliatory murder was unnecessary and unjustified.
I cannot speak for the rest of the country, but past leadership of the Boston office of the FBI has been one of the most corrupt and criminal operations in the history of America. I exclude the newly appointed Special Agent In Charge, Harold Shaw, whom I believe was selectively appointed by FBI Director James Comey to clean up the Boston office.
Sooner or later though, some crooked agents get caught. In September 2013, the former head of the Boston FBI office, Ken Kaiser, pleaded guilty to an ethics charge and instead of the possible one year in jail and $100,000 fine, the prosecutors recommended that he serve no prison time and pay a $15,000 fine. Why the US Attorney’s office cut a plea deal is unknown, especially when the legal and ethical standard is higher for law enforcement?
Ken Kaiser was the SAIC when I presented my 30-page affidavit and provided “sworn” testimony in a two hour meeting with the husband and wife FBI team of Robbins and Robbins.
My affidavit outlined conduct which included retaliatory frame ups, heinous and violent acts against women, well planned discrimination, promotion fixing designed to cheat women and minorities out of merit based promotions, fraudulent certifications, rigged investigations and the “suspicious” (his lawyer’s word) death of a government whistle blower. The conduct lawfully reported and in good faith is subsidized by unquantified millions of taxpayer dollars.
Special Agent John T. Foley, under Ken Kaiser’s signature block, wrote back that, that office was “not interested.”
The Boston office of the FBI, working together with the United States Attorney’s office has sufficiently demonstrated that the law is broken. The “clean hands doctrine” no longer has much weight, unless you get an honest judge who will recognize and apply 18 USC 4 to bring black letter law to the table.
Based on my direct knowledge, discretion has overruled facts, law and evidence, especially when the FBI, working with the U.S. Attorney’s office bands together to intentionally cover up massive public corruption, theft of honest government services and break the law.
When the rules and the law are no longer the rules and the law it means that the FBI and the DOJ are above the law.
Additionally, there is no such thing as the “rule of law”, no such thing as “equal justice under the law” and no such thing as a “fair trial.” If you think so, answer this: Can a pro se litigant or one with a public defender use a Broomstick against a Bazooka?
Based on my direct knowledge, frame ups in exchange for a career boost are a specialty for some prosecutors, especially involving minority frame ups.
Additionally, the public needs to know that there are big rewards for some prosecutors and some in law enforcement who break the law and use their law license, guns and badges, under color of law, to obstruct justice, cover up criminal acts and harm innocent citizens, but do they care?
And, does the FBI care that some predatory lawyers are allowed to steal millions of client funds with impunity and they don’t even have to pay it back?
Theoretically, the Boston FBI allegedly “investigates civil rights violations, public corruption, white collar crime” and more, but in practice, do they?
Accordingly, the current frame-up of an innocent and valuable member of the community, Dr Bharani, has been reported to Special Agent Keith Nelson and SAIC Shaw.
Will SAIC Shaw rely on absolute and unequivocal evidence of Dr. Bharani’s “exoneration” dated February 24, 2011, or will he allow the retaliatory and unlawful frame up to continue?
Dr. Bharani’s crime? He followed his Hippocratic oath and the law by opposing the hospital’s conduct designed to harm his patients and he opposed the pattern and practice of the hospital’s Medicare/Medicaid fraud in the millions of dollars.
Medicare/Medicaid is on the top of the FBI’s priority list so you would think the FBI would spring into action.
Since February 2011, the Board of Registration in Medicine has wasted more than $1 million taxpayer dollars in a sham process to continue their retaliation against Dr. Bharani – a Third World doctor.
Despite the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3:07, Board attorneys have looked the other way.
Even worse, is the Board’s latest retaliatory act against Dr. Bharani. On January 22, 2016, the Board issued a “Remand Order” to the Division of Administrative Law Appeals for a “new verdict” because the Hearing Officer’s “Recommended Decision” found no wrongdoing on the part of Dr. Bharani. Is asking the finder of fact for a new and doctored verdict due process? Is it justice?
Special Agent In Charge, Harold “Hank” Shaw, knows that the acronym “FBI” stands for: “Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity.” Will he stand up for the FBI and will he have the courage and bravery to do FBI?
[email protected]
Sworn & Commissioned Officer, Massachusetts Trial Court (Retired)
Board of Director Member, Mattapan State Hospital Project
Community & Good Government Advocate
cc: SAIC Harold Shaw
FBI Director James Comey
Saul Alinsky’s 12 Rules for Radicals
Here is the complete list from Alinsky.
* RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
* RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don’t address the “real” issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
* RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
* RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity’s very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)
* RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
* RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid “un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)
* RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)
* RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
* RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
* RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management’s wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
* RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)
* RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
MS,
Lovely,……….but fail to see the correlation to the topic at hand.
?????
PARADOX
HASTE , haste O laggard – leave thy drowsy dreams.
Cram all thy brain with knowledge – clutch and cram !
The earth is wide, the Universe is vast: Thou hast Infinity to learn. Oh, haste.
Haste not, haste not , My Soul ! ” Infinity! ”
Thou hast eternity to learn it in .
Thy boundless lesson through the endless years
Hath boundless leisure . Run not like a slave –
Sit like a King , and see the ranks of worlds
WHEEL in their cycles onward to thy feet .
Edward Rowland Sill
Sill a favorite of mine. Author of poem OPPORTUNITY cited in today’s post. I trust Judge Saylor understands paradox . All is not Okey Dokey at the Moakley. He is the physician 🙂
I find it disturbing & a travesty of justice that the judge would threaten Catherine Greig with life imprisonment for what “not talking” while K. Weeks, J. Martorano just to name a few made sweet deals with the prosecution and are now walking free with J. Martorano confessing to several murders while both made millions of dollars off their books totally disgusting!
So disgusted with our judicial system and how they handled the James Bulger trial starting with the lead prosecutor F. Whyshak and his” band of bullies” it was hard to distinguish who were the so called “good guys” from the “bad guys” as they all seemed to roll into one and the same. CATHERINE GREIG has done her time & has paid her dues, enough is enough leave the woman alone!
I meant to write travesty of “injustice” not justice.
Sad irony that your blog was a forum for truth that lapsed into the usual despoliation of the actual truth in matters James J. Bulger that is the buttered croissant to the media presstitutes. You have no interest in pulling up this hardy weed in the bed of lies and going root and branch at allowing sunshine in. This would have required moral courage in setting aside your personal antipathy to Jimmy Bulger and acknowledging that his trial was a mockery of justice . The mock robes of outrage you now disport in regarding Cathy Greig flap windily about in the breezes of shocked sensibility at this oh so terrible deal @ the Moakely, but do not garment any real interest in the truth. It’s late in the day for pickets on Northern Ave. or Seaport Bullshit Boulevard as I understand it .
Jimmy Bulger will testify given the OPPORTUNITY 🙂
Matt
This is ALL about having Grieg admit that Billy Bulger was in contact with Whitey Bulger during his years on the run. Nothing more nothing less. My 2 cents. but if Catherine Greig has nothing to hide why not them question her and say NO ONE helped them and Whitey was not in contact with anyone in Boston. Of course the punishment is an outrage and a smack in the face of truth and justice but Greig’s defiance is also part of the problem. She could tell them all sorts of lies, who would dispute them, no?
No one in the media is going to come to Grieg’s aide and document this travesty and misuse of the judicial system. why would they comit professional suicide and go against Whyshak and his LEGAL gang (not all gangs use guns to bully and control others). there is nothing anyone can do to help Grieg in my opinion. No one really cares because she is/was the girlfriend of Whitey Bulger, the now infamous crime boss killer.
Jerome,
Good point. This could be part of the never-ending quest to get Billy.
My first thought was last ditch effort to get Whitey to play ball.
Time will tell.
R.N.
My letter to Judge Saylor will be in the mail today! And, I have sent letters to the editor of two newspapers. I’m thinking of picketing the courthouse. Anyone interested? I figure if they can do this to Catherine Greig, they can do it to any one of us. Let’s stand up and be heard so that when they come for us it is not in secret!
Remember Martin Niemöller, a prominent Protestant pastor who opposed the Nazi regime? Rev. Niemöller was sent to a concentration camp for the last seven years of Nazi rule. Can we learn from his warning?
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
I will picket with you Janet Uhlar on the day of Catherine’s sentencing. It is unspeakable what they are putting her through.
JRC. Good Morning America.
Hello Matt , do you think our good Justice Saylor might qualify for a ” Profile In Courage Award” if , at sentencing on April 28th , he releases Catherine for “time already served” ? I’m sure such an ending would outrage our local press but it would also put an end to this fiasco . My letter to Justice Saylor will be in the mail by 5pm.
Might be effective to get Danny Rea on the case. He has done well fighting injustices.